Indicia-carrying rack



J. R. DUMONT INDICIA CARRYING RACK 1922 2 Sheets-Shogi'. 2

Filed June 26 Patented May 15, 1923.

STATES aerea JOSEPH RFIJUMONT, 0F KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

INDICIA-CARRYING RACK.

Appuctio med June 2e, 1922. serial No. enses.

To all lwhom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOSEPH R. DUMONT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Indicia-Carrying Racks; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to indicia-carrying racks, the primary object being to provide a convenient construction of rack adapted to support indicia-carrying cards or strips, the cards being received in such a manner as to' have certain significance with respect to the subject matter thereon. For example, the cards may indicate certain data to be used at a future date.

While the rack is especially adapted for use in connection with hotels asa room rack, it is not neoessaril limited to that particul'ar use. I will re er to it hereinafter, however, as a hotel room rack with the reservation that it may be employed in any capacity in which it may find utility.

.The rack is so constructed that the clerk may, at a glance, determine whether a reservation has been made for the room for a future date, whether a guesthas been assigned to the room, whether the uest has paid his bill, whether the baggage as been removed, if the room is in condition to admit another guest and, im fact, practically all the information that is required by a clerk in handling the days busine.

The novel construction and arrangement of the parts and various details of construction will be apparent by reference to the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a perspective viewof a rack constructedv in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a cro-sectional view through the same.

Fig. 3 is a vertical, longitudinal, sectional view through the rack.

Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of one of the signal pockets.

Fig. 5 is a disassociated view ofthe signal bar and two sliding sleeves carried thereby.

Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of the signal pocket with the guide bar and slides removed.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary detail perspective view of one of the card pockets, and

Fig. 8 is a perspective vie-w of aplurality of cards to be received in the card pocket.

The rack frame is shown as constructed for two columns of signal pockets and card pockets, it being obvious, however, that the number of columns may be varied to suit the capacity of the hotel in which the rack is installed.

The rack frame is shown as consisting of two side posts 1 and 2 and an intermediate vertical post 3. F astened across the back of the frame is a plate 4 which connects the posts 1, 2 and 3. The posts 1 and 2 are provided with covering members shown as angles 5 and 6, the front portions of the angles overlapping the front faces of the posts slightly to provide guide portions 7 and 8 co-operating with the Z-bars 9 and 10 to constitute guides for the signal pockets-and card pockets to be referred to hereinafter. The posts 1 and 3 are provided with grooved members 11 and l2, which carry indicia-sup porting slides 13 and 14, the indicia-carrying slides having for'hotel construction the numbers of the rooms of the hotel.

There is a Zf-shaped top cover member 15, the upstanding lian e 16 of which may have perforations 17 an 18 to receive the nails, screws, hooks or similar means by which the entire rack may be suspended, the vertical portion 19 of the member 15 constituting a front top face plate, as will be clearly seen by reference to Fig. 1.

A similar member 15 is at the bottom and it may be provided with perforate portions 2O so that the rack may be fastened to the wall.

Depending from the plate or portion 19 is a suspension member 21 having a hooked portion 22 to receive either the signal pocket or the card pocket. I have shown one of the signal pockets suspended from the hook 22 and card' pockets suspended from the signalv pockets; the card pockets and signal pockets being arranged in alternate relation, the lowelmost pocket being a card pocket 23, which has its lower edge bearing against the over-turned edge of a baile plate 24 so that the cards will be guided into the lowermost pocket instead of into the space 25, which might occur if the baille 24 were not used'.

The signal pockets are best illustrated in Figa 4,' 5 and e. Each signal pocket is shown as consisting of a plate 26 having its lower portion bent back upon itself to provide a frontwall 27, spaced from the rear wall to provide a card-receiving pocket or a suspending bracket for a card-receivlng pocket, such as 28 (Fig. 7

The upper end of the rear wall of the signal'pocket is slitted at 29, 30 and 3l and then d1e^pressed to. provide ide ledges or shoulders 32 by ofsett' t e portion 33, which has its upper edge nt over to form a hook 34. The offsetting action provides guide loops 35, 36 and 37 to receive a signal or indicia-carrying bar 38 which may pass thro h the loops35, 36 and 37 and rest uponjthe s oulders 32.

The bar 38 is preferably provided intermediate its`ends with a color different from the colors of its-ends; for example, the intermediate portion of the bar may be colored black, as at 40, and the lrespective ends of the bar may be white, as indicated 4at 4 1I and 42.

The endsof the bar receive signal sleeves or slides 43 and 44, preferabl of different colors; for example, lthe sli e- 43 may be red and the slide 44 may be green.

The looped portion 36 when the bar is in place constitutes a stop forv the .sleeves 43'and 44 when they are moved in one direction and when they are moved in an opposite direction they may abut a ainst the loops 35 and 37 respectivel T e sleeves that the room is ready for a guest. While' the est is occupying'the room, the slides will e over the black portion-and the nameof the guest will be received in the space. 45

of the card pocket 28. The card pocket 28 has a rear wall-provided with an overhang- 26 and b reference to Fi 7 it will served t at the card poc et consists of a l plate havin a bent-over upper ed e to form the hoo 46 and a bent-up front e ge to form the plate 47. pocket wil indicate, of course, that. although the room is in is being occupied. If, durin the occupancy by a particular guest, the ill for that room is paid, the clerk may move the sleeve 43 from right to The 'card in the card,"

proper condition, it

left or toward the stop 35 to expose half of the black portion 40 and co'ier'up .theivhlte portion 41. This will indicate that the guests account has been aid.

It' sometimes happens t at the guest pays his bill prior to `leavin the-roomv and his baggage may still remaln after the blll has been paid.V If'he moves his baggage, indicating that he is checking out or giving. up the room, the sleeve 44 will be moved. om left to right or toward the stop and guide loop 37. Then the slide 44 `Will coverup the white portion 42 of the bar 38 and uncover its half of the black portion 40,'leavin the black portion entirely exposed.

-he twoA slides are now at opposite ends of the bar 38 and the room is ready to be guest. As soon as the maid has set the room in order, this information is conveyed to the clerk who now moves the slides 43 and- 44 again toward the center to cover up the black portion of the bar 39 to indicate that the room is again ready for a guest.

The space 45 in the pocket 29 is sufficient to accommodate a number of cards, such as 48, 49 and 50, as shown in Fig. 8. These cards are reservation cards upon which the name of guests who have reserved rooms for future dates arel laced. The cards have date-containing ta s `51, 52 and 53 respectively, whichmay be staggered or offset with respect 'one to the other so that if a number of reservations have been made for a articular room, the clerk can observe this y a glance at the tabs on the cards;

Under certain conditions where an inexpensive rack is `to be used, I may employ the signal pockets 26 without the card pockets 28 and put'the cards in the space 29 or,'in some cases, the si al pockets may not be used and instead t e pockets 28 may be employed to the exclusion of the signal pockets. Of course, there are certain disadvantages in either of these alternatives and I prefer the arrangement shown in the drawin on ac'- count of the convenience in han ing and the capaci-ty for the cards. Where the rack 1s constructed as shown in the'drawings, however, two holders or pockets are requ1re'd for each room and in some of the smaller hotels this may be considered a useless expense. In the lar r hotels however, the rack as indicated 1s generally recommended.

lThe examples of theinformation to be *conceived from the positions of the slides are only illustrative because, obviously, the

formation.

It will be apparent from the foregoing .slides might be used for conveying other inthat the rack is simple in construction, that it can be easilym'anufactured and that it is compact, the slgnal and card pockets lying one4 upon the other in" alternative rela-v the last card pocket is engaged by the overhanging card or plate 2i so that liability of h cards being introduced into the Wronfr space, for example 25, will be eliminated? The rack may be made in any number of sections or columns desired, dependent upon the requirements.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is:

l. An indicia-carrying rack comprising a frame, signal pockets carried by said frame aving card-receiving means, a bar carried by each signal pocket and having differently colored portions, and sleeves slidable on said bar to expose and cover said ortions dependent upon the positions of t e sleeves.

2. An indicia-carrying rack comprising a frame, signal pockets carried by said frame having card-receiving means, a bar carried by each signal pocket and having dierently colored portions, and differently colored sleeves slidable on said bar to expose and cover said portions dependent lupon the posi tions of the sleeve.

3. An indicia-carrying rack comprising a frame, signal pockets carried by said frame having card-receiving means, a bar having ends of the same colon and an intermediate portion of a different color, the intermediate portion being approximately coextensve with the combined lengths of both ends, and

vsleeves on the bar coextensive in length with the lengths of the ends.

4. An indicia-carrying rack comprising a frame, signal pockets carried by said frame aving card-receiving means, a bar carried by each signal pocket and having dierently colored portions, sleeves slidable on said bar to expose and cover said portions dependent upon the positions of the sleeves, and separate indicia for each bar.

5. A rack comprisin a frame, signal and card pockets in said'ame, the card pockets alternating with the signal pockets and the successivepookets interengaging Whereby eac-h pocket except the first is supported by the pocket above it.

6. A rack comprising a frame, a signal and card pockets in said frame, the card pockets alternating With the signal pockets and the alternate pockets interengaging whereby each pocket except the first is supported by the pocket above it and sliding si nal means in each alternate pocket.`

g?. A rack comprising a frame having a plurality of signal pockets therein, each signal pocket consisting of a plate having an offset portion to support a bar and provided with loops to receive the bar, a bar in the loops and resting'upon the support, and slidin signal sleeves on the bar.

n testimony whereof I aix my signature.

' OSEPH R. DONT. 

